Allman Brothers Band: Live at the Beacon

By: Erik Swift

March 2004

DVD Features Video: 1.33:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 Bonus Track: Old Friend (Dressing Room Rehearsal) Interviews Photo Gallery Behind the Scenes Footage DVD released on 9/23/2003 by BMG Music Running time of 180 minutes Tracks: Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More Black Hearted Woman Statesboro Blues Woman Across the River A Change Is Gonna Come Maydell Come & Go Blues Desdemona Don’t Keep Me Wondering Midnight Rider Soulshine High Cost of Low Living Leave My Blues At Home Old Before My Time The Same Thing Melissa Instrumental Illness Worried Down With the Blues Dreams Whippin’ Post

At one point in the Allman Brothers Band’s first true concert DVD, Gregg Allman – a man who’s been through so many venues across this planet – sings “Don’t ask me why I stay here, I don’t know” inside a smoldering “Come And Go Blues.” Viewers will discover that lyric’s deeper meaning during “Live At The Beacon Theatre.” For fans old and new, witnessing the ABB’s annual multi-night NYC stands, a.k.a. the Beacon run, has become a yearly rite. This long-awaited two-disc set finally presents the band in peak visual and aural form at 74th and Broadway.

The love affair between the Allman Brothers Band and New York City stretches back to the first week of August 1969. That’s when guitarists Dickey Betts & Duane Allman, drummers Butch Trucks & Jai Johnny “Jaimoe” Johansen, bassist Berry Oakley and keyboardist/singer Gregg Allman hit the stage of Ungano’s for three nights just weeks after Apollo XI and days before Woodstock. 18 months later the sextet recorded pivotal gigs at the Fillmore East, and the resulting concert album introduced the world to the southern rock genre. Since four shows in late September 1989, New York’s intimate Beacon Theatre has become the ABB’s Yankee home away from home.

My first Beacon show was in 1997 – when Betts and Warren Haynes were on guitar and Allen Woody helmed the bass. After those shows, Haynes and Woody left to concentrate on Gov’t Mule. Both remained there until 2000 when the bassist unexpectedly passed away. Betts had been booted after that year’s Beacon run, and Haynes found himself suddenly available. With the Mule’s future on hold, Haynes accepted the invitation to rejoin the ABB and handle the guitar duties with Butch Trucks’ nephew Derek. Their twin-guitar attack – combined with the three-way drum orchestra produced by Jaimoe, the elder Trucks and percussionist Marc Quinones alongside Woody’s replacement Oteil Burbridge and Gregg – was filmed over a pair of evenings in March 2003.

There are countless jaw-dropping moments here. After 21 songs and 160 minutes, I had to watch the first disc again. The opening three numbers feature an amazing display of musicianship between Haynes and Trucks. The pair shines, especially as the band clicks on all cylinders with them on “Black Hearted Woman.” During the twenty minutes that encompass new songs “Rocking Horse” and “Desdemona,” Burbridge’s scampering bass in the former and the telepathic interplay between Trucks & Haynes in the latter defy explanation. The duo also nails “High Cost Of Low Living” together as the baby-faced Trucks’ Gibson wails beautifully. Gregg’s glorious vocals add new dimension to a pair of Mule contributions, “Soulshine” and the mellow “Worried Down With The Blues.” The crowd on their feet, a rumbling “Whipping Post” closes the show on a staggering high.

Disc Two is only missing footage of the band grabbing cheap hot dogs at Gray’s Papaya after the show. The musical portions are slim (encore “One Way Out” and the bonus dressing-room acoustic slide jam “Old Friend”). More prominently featured is a top-notch band interview that covers virtually everything in the decades-old history of the ABB, from their Jacksonville, FL beginnings to the recording of their first album in nine years, 2003’s “Hittin’ The Note.” Similar to their work onstage, all members bring depth here. Quinones’ comments about a lack of Allman Brothers exposure in the South Bronx bring laughs, while Derek Trucks’ reverence for Duane Allman’s style is apparent. Haynes – truly the hardest working musician out there between his stints in the ABB, the Dead and a revived Gov’t Mule – mentions that the reason the music of the ABB and the Grateful Dead have lived for years is because of not only the musicians’ ability to jam but also the great songs. How true that is.

Watching this DVD is a perfect primer to set the mood for the real March Madness, as the ABB are gearing up for another stint at the Beacon later this month. Gregg Allman’s words about the band that bears his name ring true while viewing “Live At The Beacon Theatre”: the Allman Brothers Band is about “nothing but good times and good music.”

Reviewer’s Opinion: BUY IT!!